Song of Solomon 1–8

1The ^asong of songs, which is Solomon’s.

The Banquet

The ¹

²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—

^bFor ²your love is better than wine.

³Because of the fragrance of your good ointments,

Your name is ointment poured forth;

Therefore the virgins love you.

^4cDraw me away!

^dWe will run after ³you.

The king ^ehas brought me into his chambers.

We will be glad and rejoice in ⁴you.

We will remember your love more than wine.

Rightly do they love you.

⁵I am dark, but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem,

Like the tents of Kedar,

Like the curtains of Solomon.

⁶Do not look upon me, because I am dark,

Because the sun has ⁵tanned me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

They made me the keeper of the vineyards,

But my own ^fvineyard I have not kept.

⁷Tell me, O you whom I love,

Where you feed your flock,

Where you make it rest at noon.

For why should I be as one who ⁶veils herself

By the flocks of your companions?

⁸If you do not know, ^gO fairest among women,

⁷Follow in the footsteps of the flock,

And feed your little goats

Beside the shepherds’ tents.

⁹I have compared you, ^hmy love,

ⁱTo my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.

^10jYour cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

Your neck with chains of gold.

¹¹We will make ⁸you ornaments of gold

With studs of silver.

¹²While the king is at his table,

My ⁹spikenard sends forth its fragrance.

¹³A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me,

That lies all night between my breasts.

¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms

In the vineyards of En Gedi.

^15kBehold, you are fair, ¹my love!

Behold, you are fair!

You have dove’s eyes.

¹⁶Behold, you are ^lhandsome, my beloved!

Yes, pleasant!

Also our ²bed is green.

¹⁷The beams of our houses are cedar,

And our rafters of fir.

2I am the rose of Sharon,

And the lily of the valleys.

²Like a lily among thorns,

So is my love among the daughters.

³Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,

So is my beloved among the sons.

I sat down in his shade with great delight,

And ^ahis fruit was sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the ¹banqueting house,

And his banner over me was love.

⁵Sustain me with cakes of raisins,

Refresh me with apples,

For I am lovesick.

^6bHis left hand is under my head,

And his right hand embraces me.

^7cI ²charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the does of the field,

Do not stir up nor awaken love

Until it pleases.

The Beloved’s Request

⁸The voice of my beloved!

Behold, he comes

Leaping upon the mountains,

Skipping upon the hills.

^9dMy beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.

Behold, he stands behind our wall;

He is looking through the windows,

Gazing through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved spoke, and said to me:

“Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away.

¹¹For lo, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

¹²The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of singing has come,

And the voice of the turtledove

Is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree puts forth her green figs,

And the vines with the tender grapes

Give a good smell.

Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away!

¹⁴“O my ^edove, in the clefts of the rock,

In the secret places of the cliff,

Let me see your ³face,

^fLet me hear your voice;

For your voice is sweet,

And your face is lovely.”

¹⁵Catch us ^gthe foxes,

The little foxes that spoil the vines,

For our vines have tender grapes.

^16hMy beloved is mine, and I am his.

He feeds his flock among the lilies.

¹⁷ⁱUntil the day breaks

And the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved,

And be ^jlike a gazelle

Or a young stag

Upon the mountains of ⁴Bether.

A Troubled Night

3By ^anight on my bed I sought the one I love;

I sought him, but I did not find him.

²“I will rise now,” I said,

“And go about the city;

In the streets and in the squares

I will seek the one I love.”

I sought him, but I did not find him.

^3bThe watchmen who go about the city found me;

I said,

“Have you seen the one I love?”

⁴Scarcely had I passed by them,

When I found the one I love.

I held him and would not let him go,

Until I had brought him to the ^chouse of my mother,

And into the ¹chamber of her who conceived me.

^5dI ²charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or by the does of the field,

Do not stir up nor awaken love

Until it pleases.

The Coming of Solomon

^6eWho is this coming out of the wilderness

Like pillars of smoke,

Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

With all the merchant’s fragrant powders?

⁷Behold, it is Solomon’s couch,

With sixty valiant men around it,

Of the valiant of Israel.

⁸They all hold swords,

Being expert in war.

Every man has his sword on his thigh

Because of fear in the night.

⁹Of the wood of Lebanon

Solomon the King

Made himself a ³palanquin:

¹⁰He made its pillars of silver,

Its support of gold,

Its seat of purple,

Its interior paved with love

By the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹Go forth, O daughters of Zion,

And see King Solomon with the crown

With which his mother crowned him

On the day of his wedding,

The day of the gladness of his heart.

4Behold, ^ayou are fair, my love!

Behold, you are fair!

You have dove’s eyes behind your veil.

Your hair is like a ^bflock of goats,

Going down from Mount Gilead.

^2cYour teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep

Which have come up from the washing,

Every one of which bears twins,

And none is ¹barren among them.

³Your lips are like a strand of scarlet,

And your mouth is lovely.

^dYour temples behind your veil

Are like a piece of pomegranate.

^4eYour neck is like the tower of David,

Built ^ffor an armory,

On which hang a thousand ²bucklers,

All shields of mighty men.

^5gYour two breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle,

Which feed among the lilies.

^6hUntil the day breaks

And the shadows flee away,

I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh

And to the hill of frankincense.

⁷ⁱYou are all fair, my love,

And there is no spot in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,

With me from Lebanon.

Look from the top of Amana,

From the top of Senir ^jand Hermon,

From the lions’ dens,

From the mountains of the leopards.

⁹You have ravished my heart,

My sister, my spouse;

You have ravished my heart

With one look of your eyes,

With one link of your necklace.

¹⁰How fair is your love,

My sister, my spouse!

^kHow much better than wine is your love,

And the ³scent of your perfumes

Than all spices!

¹¹Your lips, O my spouse,

Drip as the honeycomb;

^lHoney and milk are under your tongue;

And the fragrance of your garments

Is ^mlike the fragrance of Lebanon.

¹²A garden ⁴enclosed

Is my sister, my spouse,

A spring shut up,

A fountain sealed.

¹³Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates

With pleasant fruits,

Fragrant henna with spikenard,

¹⁴Spikenard and saffron,

Calamus and cinnamon,

With all trees of frankincense,

Myrrh and aloes,

With all the chief spices—

¹⁵A fountain of gardens,

A well of ⁿliving waters,

And streams from Lebanon.

¹⁶Awake, O north wind,

And come, O south!

Blow upon my garden,

That its spices may flow out.

^oLet my beloved come to his garden

And eat its pleasant ^pfruits.

5I ^ahave come to my garden, my ^bsister, my spouse;

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

^cI have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

Eat, O ^dfriends!

Drink, yes, drink deeply,

O beloved ones!

The Shulamite’s Troubled Evening

²I sleep, but my heart is awake;

It is the voice of my beloved!

^eHe knocks, saying,

“Open for me, my sister, ¹my love,

My dove, my perfect one;

For my head is covered with dew,

My ²locks with the drops of the night.”

³I have taken off my robe;

How can I put it on again?

I have washed my feet;

How can I ³defile them?

⁴My beloved put his hand

By the ⁴latch of the door,

And my heart yearned for him.

⁵I arose to open for my beloved,

And my hands dripped with myrrh,

My fingers with liquid myrrh,

On the handles of the lock.

⁶I opened for my beloved,

But my beloved had turned away and was gone.

My ⁵heart leaped up when he spoke.

^fI sought him, but I could not find him;

I called him, but he gave me no answer.

^7gThe watchmen who went about the city found me.

They struck me, they wounded me;

The keepers of the walls

Took my veil away from me.

⁸I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,

That you tell him I am lovesick!

⁹What is your beloved

More than another beloved,

^hO fairest among women?

What is your beloved

More than another beloved,

That you so ⁶charge us?

¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy,

⁷Chief among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is like the finest gold;

His locks are wavy,

And black as a raven.

¹²ⁱHis eyes are like doves

By the rivers of waters,

Washed with milk,

And ⁸fitly set.

¹³His cheeks are like a bed of spices,

Banks of scented herbs.

His lips are lilies,

Dripping liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are rods of gold

Set with beryl.

His body is carved ivory

Inlaid with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are pillars of marble

Set on bases of fine gold.

His countenance is like Lebanon,

Excellent as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is most sweet,

Yes, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved,

And this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem!

6Where has your beloved gone,

^aO fairest among women?

Where has your beloved turned aside,

That we may seek him with you?

²My beloved has gone to his ^bgarden,

To the beds of spices,

To feed his flock in the gardens,

And to gather lilies.

^3cI am my beloved’s,

And my beloved is mine.

He feeds his flock among the lilies.

Praise of the Shulamite’s Beauty

⁴O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,

Lovely as Jerusalem,

Awesome as an army with banners!

⁵Turn your eyes away from me,

For they have ¹overcome me.

Your hair is ^dlike a flock of goats

Going down from Gilead.

^6eYour teeth are like a flock of sheep

Which have come up from the washing;

Every one bears twins,

And none is ²barren among them.

^7fLike a piece of pomegranate

Are your temples behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens

And eighty concubines,

And ^gvirgins without number.

⁹My dove, my ^hperfect one,

Is the only one,

The only one of her mother,

The favorite of the one who bore her.

The daughters saw her

And called her blessed,

The queens and the concubines,

And they praised her.

¹⁰Who is she who looks forth as the morning,

Fair as the moon,

Clear as the sun,

ⁱAwesome as an army with banners?

¹¹I went down to the garden of nuts

To see the verdure of the valley,

^jTo see whether the vine had budded

And the pomegranates had bloomed.

¹²Before I was even aware,

My soul had made me

As the chariots of ³my noble people.

¹³Return, return, O Shulamite;…